Does it Have to be Forever?
by Elysian
Summary: A sequel to my story "Mine Forever". Scott and Shelby experience the difficulites of teen marriage.


Does it Have to Be Forever?  
  
This story is a sequel to my story "Mine Forever". I know I said I wasn't going to write a sequel to that story, but, well, I changed my mind :) I highly recommend that you read that story first, but if you don't want to, here's a brief synopsis:  
  
Scott made a marriage proposal to Shelby. When Peter found out and threatened to keep them apart, the two young lovers ran away to Vegas and got married. When they got back to Horizon, Peter and their parents decided that they couldn't stay at Horizon and had to live on their own in town. Kat has graduated and is going to college in New York City. Ezra decided that he wanted to find his birth parents and asked Kat to help him. She managed to finally contact them, but his parents didn't want to talk to him. Also while that was happening, Ezra and Daisy finally got together. And that's about it! Now here's part one of my new story!  
  
*****  
  
Shelby stomps up the stairs to her apartment and slams the door behind her. She pulls off her waitressing apron and throws it on the floor. Quarters and dimes spill out and roll across the cheap carpeting. She flops down heavily on the couch next to her husband of five months.  
  
"I hate my job!" she yells and angrily pushes the hair that had escaped her ponytail out of her face. "Get me this! Get me that! Can't anyone get anything for themselves?"  
  
"It's nice to see you, too," Scott Barringer says with a smile playing at his lips at his wife's outburst.  
  
"Sorry." She calms down from her rage and leans in to give Scott a hello kiss. "How was your day at work?"  
  
"It was alright. Grocery store cahiering isn't all that glamorous, you know."  
  
"Someday we'll get good jobs," she sighs and flips on the TV. Every channel has fuzzy snow. "Did you pay the cable bill?" Shelby demands.  
  
"I just sent it out today."  
  
"Scott!" Shelby's rage returns. "The bill was due last week! Now we have no TV!"  
  
"Sorry if we didn't have enough money to pay on time! Maybe if you started getting some decent tips at work we could afford it!"  
  
Shelby slowly counts to ten to herself before she blurts out something that she knows she is going to regret. "Let's just forget it, alright?"  
  
"Fine. What are you going to make for dinner?"  
  
"Me? Why can't you make dinner?"  
  
"Because you're the woman of the house!"  
  
"So that makes me a gourmet chef on top of everything else I have to do?!" She gets up from the couch and throws the remote at Scott. "Sometimes I wish I'd never married you!" she screams, storms into their bedroom, and slams the door behind her.  
  
Scott just stares after her and mentally slaps himself for being so insensitive. Things have been rough for both of them the past five months. At times, running off to Vegas and getting married at seventeen doesn't seem like such a great idea. Neither one of them makes great money, Shelby as a waitress and Scott as a grocery store cashier. Trying to afford apartment rent and other bills is hard every month. Plus they had to quit high school and leave Horizon- they're only support system. Both of them are still in the healing process from everything else that had gone on in their lives.  
  
Pulling himself up off the couch, Scott figures he better do something to make up with Shelby. They've been fighting an awful lot lately. He walks into the kitchen and starts rummaging through the cabinets. There's hardly any food left and Scott realizes he had forgotten to do the weekly grocery shopping- again. He eventually finds a box of spaghetti and throws some hot water on the stove. At least they still have their gas.  
  
He cooks up the spaghetti and sets out two plates of it on their kitchen table. He fills two glasses full of milk and then goes to check on Shelby.  
  
"Shel?" He lightly knocks on the door. "Can I come in?"  
  
"I guess so," she mumbles.  
  
Slowly opening the door, he walks in to see Shelby sitting on the edge of the bed. Her eyes are all red and blotchy and Scott feels even worse that he made her cry.  
  
"I'm sorry for being such a jerk," he says softly and sits on the bed beside her.  
  
She wipes her eye with her sleeve. "Are you sure we made a good decision?"  
  
"A good decision about what?"  
  
"About getting married."  
  
"What do you mean? You're not happy?"  
  
"It's not that," she sighs. "It's just that we can't ever afford anything. All we ever do is work. We've only even visited Horizon once since we've been married.."  
  
Scott moves closer to her and puts his arm around her shoulder. Shelby responds by wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head on his shoulder.  
  
"I know how you feel. The working part sucks. But I love you and all that matters to me know is that I'm with you. We'll get through all the financial stuff."  
  
"I know we will."  
  
"You know, dinner's getting cold."  
  
She lifts her head to look at him. "You made dinner?"  
  
"Spaghetti."  
  
"You're wonderful," She thanks him by giving him a quick kiss. Scott pulls her up off their bed and together they walk into the kitchen to eat a peaceful dinner.  
  
*****  
  
Juliette walks into the lodge in a daze. She doesn't even see Auggie walk up to her.  
  
"Who was on the phone?" he asks her.  
  
"What?" she snaps out of her trance and notices Auggie standing in front of her.  
  
"Who was on the phone?" he repeats.  
  
"My mother." Her face is a ghostly white and Auggie immediately knows it's not good news. Someday he'd really like to tell her mother off.  
  
"What did she want this time?"  
  
"I think I need to sit down," she says frantically.  
  
Auggie leads her over to one of the couches and makes sure that she's comfortable. "So what's her problem now?"  
  
"My mother and Hal-" she starts but doesn't finish.  
  
"They gettin' divorced?" he chuckles. Divorce is a hobby for Juliette's mother.  
  
"No, they're not getting divorced. They're going to have a baby."  
  
  



End file.
